Well, not quite a “detour” in the strict sense of the word I suppose, since travel in the Balkans was in the “Europe” plan – it was, in fact, always to be the other half of the first leg of our Europe trip ( after Scandinavia ).
Here I will back up just a bit, so the whole route might make some sense to the casual reader of our blog. Just as we had not travelled extensively in the north of Scandinavia during our first European experience in the 1980s, nor had we the opportunity to travel in any significant way in the former Eastern bloc. So this time we wanted to get out and explore the Balkan states that we had missed before, with a specific focus on Romania and more or less by way of transit, which ever other states we might pass through in getting down to Romania and back. Knowing we would return later in the summer, headed to Turkey and focus on the Adriatic coast, on this final month for now we’d travel to Romania ( primarily ), but then loop back to Northern Europe via Bulgaria, Macedonia, Kosovo, Montenegro and Bosnia ( Serbia we needed to rule out once the decision was made to enter Kosovo directly ). So, that was the plan – now we had to get to Romania and back with about 5 weeks of “Schengen” time left in Europe “phase 1”.
Route to Romania
We applied two criteria to determine our itinerary; firstly, which route was more or less the most direct, and secondly, (where possible ) which route took us through places we had never been before. The first part of this was easy – south through Germany, crossing into Poland, then hopping over the Tatra Mountains across Slovakia, touching Hungary in the east before reaching Romania in the north-west of the country. This did involve a couple of days solid driving and with the stops we made en route- came to almost a week. Here is the week that was !
Crossing from Denmark, Kiel and Lubeck in Germany’s north were new to us so along with Berlin ( not new, but where the weather was simply too awesome not to make a stopover ) we spent time in both places. Kiel’s big attraction ( to me ) was the chance to go inside a real WW2 German U-boat ( submarine U-995 ), and while less appealing to Lois, it absolutely made my day. Hard to imagine those guys living for weeks and months on end in those things – and getting depth charged regularly ! A fascinating experience to actually get inside one. It was a very dangerous job – of 41,000 German submariners, 30,000 died and 5,000 were captured, a fatality rate of close to 75%.
U995, a German U-Boat ( submarine ) that saw service in WW2, now on display at the naval museum in KielFascinating to actually go inside and see how confined life was living in a submarine. Here in the engine room. Not for the claustrophobic!It had 4 torpedo tubes.All the technical stuff..!
Lubeck is one of Germany’s gems and lived up to every superlative we’d heard about it. So much history, so many stunning buildings and all so well preserved or restored. Being able to camp across the river from the old town was just icing on the cake – so convenient. While in Lubeck the vehicle had to go in for a major scheduled service which, while draining our budget somewhat, did give us more time in this beautiful little city. Magical place.
Picturesque Lubeck, one of Germany’s prettiest cities. Historic Holestentor, Lubeck.A cobblestone backstreet, Lubeck.Our van was due for a 90,000km Service “B” ( a big one ). We were fortunate to get squeezed in to a dealer near Lubeck who took good care of us.Mercedes Reinfeld saved us when many other dealers advised of 3 week waits for a simple service !
Berlin fell right on the route to Bucharest – a city one could easily visit over and over, so we did not mind a repeat and the sunny weather just added to the experience. The Tiergarten, the Brandenburg Gate – and this time, no wall ! Getting here in 2025 was much simpler than doing so in 1986 back when “West” Berlin was an oasis of capitalism in the sea of communism that was “East” Germany.
The Reichstag, Berlin.Camped between the River Spee and Berlin’s famous Tiergarten, just 15 mins walk to the Brandenburg Gate. . Germany has certainly made camping very easy for us.Enjoying Berlin’s Tiergarten on a beautiful sunny day.Brandenburg Gate.Siegessaule, or victory column, Berlin.A handful of Nazi era buildings still survive. Here, the former Aviation Ministry building – presumably Herman Goering himself strutted these halls. “Checkpoint Charlie”, obviously no longer in use ( but we passed through it in 1986 when it still was ! ). Now a tourist attraction which we passed as we drove out of downtown Berlin.It was a Sunday as we left Berlin and we wanted to do some shopping so stopped at IKEA- we were stunned to find an IKEA that would ever be closed ( anywhere ) on a Sunday ( busiest trading day in Canada ! ). We noticed this trend in Scandinavia as well.
A long haul then took us through generally nice scenery, with good weather making driving easy and we made full use of Germany’s excellent Autobahn’s and Poland’s modern highways. Crossing the Tatra’s to Slovakia was especially picturesque given the weather was vastly improved since the last time we were in these parts. While we crossed Hungary in the far east, it was very brief, and the only reason we went that way was to avoid the need to transit western Ukraine ( Google Maps actually had planned a route out that would have taken us there – Lois said no 😟). Our return would bring us to much more interesting parts of Hungary.
Crossing into Slovakia – much better weather this time !One of our nicest wild camp spots, by a ski hill in Slovakia.A memorable little campground in Poland – high up and with views out over the valley, Gora Swietej Anny.Southern Poland with views to Slovakia over the Tatra mountains.While there are technically no internal borders in the Schengen zone, in some places they still do customs checks to make sure you are not smuggling contraband or excess quantities of alcohol. Here, some very friendly Slovakian soldiers checked us out Slovakian scenery, Tatra mountains.Passed briefly through Eastern Hungary on the way to Romania. We always take a picture of the speed rules ( they differ within Europe ) – fines can be heavy for any infractions.Nothing like the “old days” but you’ll still see the odd horse and cart in parts of Eastern Europe. Here in remote rural Hungary.
So, with that all done we were at the Romanian border- the crossing was easy ( Romania is “in” Schengen now ) and we look forward to exploring all its charms in the days ahead.
Oslo is barely a couple of hours from the Swedish border and like most others in the Schengen zone one crosses it almost without noticing.
Stromstad – suddenly LOTS more RV’s around when we are looking for a place to park up at night.
On the advice of our friend, Gil, our first stop in Sweden was Stromstad, a cozy little seaside town often frequented by Norwegians chasing cheap(er) Swedish alcohol and a weekend away. This was indeed one such weekend since a public holiday in Norway had pumped up the volume of Norwegian reveller’s who also traditionally flock to Stromstad on this particular day for a “car show” of sorts – every imaginable type was on display with visible bias to larger, older US vehicles. Lots of music, lots of drinking, you know the drill – welcome to Sweden !
Crowds waiting for the liquor store to open. It’s a long weekend and the Norwegians are in town !!! Swedish liquor is cheaper than the Norwegian stuff.just one example of some of the classic cars that were being paraded around Stromstad. Party weekend !
Moving south towards Gothenburg there was one more recommendation from Gil ( another good one ), scenic Marstrand. Famed for its fort and picturesque homes Marstrand provided us a very relaxing stopover en route to Gothenburg.
Moved down the coast to Marstrand – an excellent camping spot right on the bay. Just a few others around.Marstrand harbour with castle in the background.Ditto. A beautiful setting.Marstrand.
Not sure where we got the notion that Gothenburg was worth visiting – perhaps it was simply the fact that it laid directly on our route south to Helsingborg, the jumping off point for Denmark. Perhaps it was the fact that we’d already visited, and very much enjoyed, Stockholm on our last trip to Sweden, and didn’t really want to head substantially east to visit Stockholm again when we had not yet been to Gothenburg. Whatever it was, Gothenburg was definitely a little bit of a letdown. With hindsight, we probably would have been wise to drive east to Stockholm, revisit it, and then drive south to Helsingborg – but we didn’t. The rest of the trip south towards Helsingborg was definitely worthwhile, giving a very real, close up of rural Sweden, highlighted by our farm camping experience in Tvaaker.
We were very unimpressed with Gothenburg, but at least the cherry blossoms were in full bloom !Rural scene, near Marstrand.Sunset, farm camping, Sweden.Farm scenery, Sweden.Ditto.
Helsingborg, on the Swedish side of Oresund strait, is the closest point to Helsingor ( of “Hamlet” fame ) on the Danish side and is a popular entry point to Denmark. Yes, one can now drive further south in Sweden (to Malmo) and take the Oresund bridge more or less directly to Copenhagen, but it involves more driving, goes somewhat out of our way, and is quite expensive. The ferry for us just made more sense ( we still had one VERY expensive Danish bridge ahead but more on that later !).
On the ferry to Denmark, a view of our van I do not often see !
Helsingor ( a city also known for its shipbuilding past ) will forever be associated with Hamlet ( Shakespeare having chosen Helsingor castle as the setting for perhaps his most famous play – Elsinore, of course, is simply the anglicized version of ‘Helsingor’ ). Much is made of this naturally but the castle is quite impressive in its own right, above and beyond the Shakespearean connection.
Elsinore castle.
Barely an hour south of Helsingor is beautiful Copenhagen. The weather gods provided us an awesome day to wander around and explore its charms and the Copenhagen marina offered us a great camping stopover. Not for the first time did a marina make for a great defacto campground, offering campers all the same things that “yachties” require. Not surprisingly the marina at Kastrup (near Copenhagen airport) was packed with RV’ers like ourselves.
Little Mermaid, Copenhagen.Amalienborg palace, Copenhagen.Guard, Amalienborg.Picturesque Nyhavn, Copenhagen.
In addition to visiting several of Denmark’s popular attractions ( Little Mermaid, Nyhavn waterfront and the Amelianborg palace ) we had a “job” to do ( of sorts ) in Copenhagen – to VOTE in the Canadian election. Sadly, despite our considerable efforts, much forward planning and arranging that our voter registration documents be forwarded to the embassy in Copenhagen, they did not arrive in time for us to cast our vote. It can’t be said that we didn’t try, and I must add that the system in Canada for voting from abroad is inordinately complicated and extremely slow. Fortunately, as it turned out, our two votes would not have changed the outcome in our riding.
No luck voting at the Canadian Embassy, Copenhagen.
On this visit to the country we took the opportunity to explore a little more of Western Denmark before heading south into Germany. Odense was the major city on our route so we made a stop there. Typical of Denmark the city is beautifully maintained and has some interesting historic architecture and, of course, is the hometown of perhaps that most famous of Danes, Hans Christian Andersen. Getting there involved crossing the 2nd of Denmark’s two massive bridges, the Great Belt Bridge. An impressive piece of engineering, indeed, with a very impressive price tag for those crossing it – we paid 635 Danish Kronor or $136 Canadian ( almost $100 USD )…..just to cross a bridge !! We thought Norway was expensive – Denmark is next level.
We saw quite a few of these in Denmark – father’s riding these bike/stroller combo units ! Baby up front. Backstreets, Odense.
Denmark was certainly nice, but we were definitely happy to move on to Germany which would position us for the final 5 weeks of our Schengen time in Europe – more on that in the next edition !
As much as we loved Norway we knew our time there was drawing to a close. With the Schengen visa restriction you simply can’t spend too much time in one European country or else you are left scrambling everywhere else. While Norway was definitely a major attraction for us, there was still much more we wanted to see before heading home to Kelowna for a summer break. We made this week in Norway our last.
Bergen is a major attraction in Norway, a beautiful city with a ton of history and is also a very popular cruise port, even this early in the season. Sadly for us, Bergen turned on some of ( what the locals called ) its more typical weather and left us sightseeing in misty rain the whole time we were there. Our Bergen memories from before were much better. While the city is as beautiful as ever, it’s definitely one that you ideally want to see on a nice sunny day – such was not our day this time around 😔.
Bergen waterfront – locals told us we experienced the “real Bergen” because this is the weather they live with most of the time ! We would have preferred “tourist” weather Bergen. Much of Bergen is built on steep hillsides, giving it a dramatic look – and practically everyone has ocean views.Classic Bergen street scene on the harbourfront.At least some blossoms were out !Scandinavia is famous for sleek style- even the laundromat looked “cool”.
Our route east to Oslo ( and on out of Norway ) took us through Dale, Vos, Flam and Gol, all towns with various attractions to offer and where we made enjoyable stops – fortunately, on this section the weather help up nicely, not letting us down again until we actually reached Oslo.
“Dale of Norway” is famous for Norwegian sweaters and they have an interesting museum which we visited. They have outfitted the Norwegian winter Olympic team ( often the team that wins most golds ! ) since the 50’s and their designs are known globally.Falls, Skulestadmo.The picturesque fjord town of Flam. Camped up just outside Flam on one of our most scenic spots ever. Joined soon after by a young couple from Chile.Fellow travellers from Chile/Argentina.A fjord shot as we left Flam.Gol. Two stunningly beautiful days here.Occasionally we do visit a regular campground – spent a couple of lovely days here at Gol. The same family has owned and run it since 1928.All across Norway we kept seeing this road sign. The image of a young girl fading away. It warned of the risks of speeding- had a powerful impact.
While Oslo is a beautiful spot and we took in what sights we could on another miserably rainy day, the main attraction this go around was actually to visit with some old friends. Gil, best man at our daughter/son in law’s wedding, gave us a wonderful tour of downtown Oslo. Ole ( and his wife Britt ) hosted us to a wonderful dinner where we spent hours catching up on each others lives – it had been 42 years since we first met ( backpacking in Asia ) and 40 years since we last visited them at their home south of Oslo. Amazing how, despite the passage of such significant time, you can so easily pick up right where you left off. They’ve promised the next visit will be them coming to see us in Canada.
Selfie – OsloOslo’s rail station is a tourist attraction in itself. Stunningly beautiful inside.Abstract art, Oslo harbour.The “Guggenheim-like” museum in Oslo.The unique work of Gustav Vigeland, Vigeland Park, Oslo.Almost Oslo’s most famous son – “The Brat” statue at Vigeland Park.Wonderful to catch with family friend, Gil, who lives in Norway. He flew to Kelowna to be best man at our daughter’s wedding.He gave us great sightseeing tips but could not deliver on the weather (lol ). We made the best of it !Britt and Ole.Just wonderful to connect with old friend Ole and his wife Britt. First met Ole in Thailand in 1983, then visited in Oslo in 1985. Then a 40 year gap. Lots to catch up on and thoroughly enjoyed our visit!
With our time in Norway drawing quickly to a close we made plans for our final month in Europe ( we’ll be taking a summer hiatus and returning to Canada for a few months ). Next week we’ll travel down through western Sweden and across Denmark to Germany, in preparation for the final month of this first leg of Europe 2025.
Can’t “win ‘em all” as they say. Travel long enough and you’ll get rained on somewhere – the typically beautiful Lofoten’s were largely a washout for us, so due to the poor weather there we moved on quickly. The Lofoten ferry took us out through the short route, across the mouth of Vestfjorden to Bodo on the mainland. In Bodo, in just one day, we saw the weather change frequently ( usually for the worse ! ) but managed to salvage at least a delightful seaside evening out by the fjord. The bad weather days of course, have not all been in vain – we’ve learned from experience to use those productively as well, and typically spend them doing our laundry, grocery shopping or any other such endeavor that can be done equally easily no matter the conditions.
Camped here at Bodo. A beautiful evening and enjoyed a long seaside walk.Out for an evening walk by the fjord at Bodo catching the late afternoon sun.
It was quite a long ( but interesting ) run from Bodo down to Trondheim, our next area of interest. A few images below will tell the story. By Trondheim conditions had changed quite dramatically and we really felt that we were by then ( more or less anyway ) out of the snow zone. Warmer weather, greener fields, leaves starting to appear in trees – all a welcome relief !
Leaving Bodo and heading south we crossed the Arric Corcle again. And it felt like the Arctic !!!Stopped for a tea break and caught a guy “mushing” with his sled and dogs. This is a bank of Tesla electric charges near Trofors ( a small town )in Norway. They have one of the highest levels of electric vehicle ownership in the world ( and probably the highest ownership level of Tesla’s ! ).Among our stranger experiences in Norway. In the tiny ( and I mean TINY ) town of Trofors on a Sunday morning we were pulled over to do a breathalyzer test. Zero reading of course !
Trondheim turned on the best of days for us and most of the days south of Trondheim out into the western Fjords varied from at least reasonable to very good. Andalsnes, Alesund and ( what many consider to be Norway’s best fjord) Geiranger were all a sight to behold and in each of these places the weather held up nicely. The drive through this whole area was just spectacular – we had high expectations based on our 1985 travels and we were not disappointed. As an interesting aside for many of the days we spent in the area we ended up ( purely coincidentally ) tracking the great Cunard ahip, the Queen Mary 2 all around the Alesund and Olden area. Nothing like a giant Norwegian fjord to make a massive cruise ship look like little more than a toy !
Road scene near Vinjeora. Once around Trondheim we started getting back to lots of green in the scenery. A nice change from white !Spectacular Nidaros cathedral, a pilgrimage sight in Trondheim. First opened back in 1300.The “Old Town” bridge, Trondheim.Pretty waterfront buildings in Trondheim.Trondheim waterfront.Ski jumps, here near Trondheim. We’ve seen many in Norway, no wonder they win so many golds at the Winter Olympics !Sadly, leaving Trondheim we had hoped to drive the famous “Trollstigen” but it was closed for repair 😞😞
One of the benefits of being this far south again was that the snow was just on the very tops of the mountains and fields all around us were green – trees were even getting leaves, so the general scenery was much improved from farther north. One of the things that has not changed ( all over Norway ! ) is the number of “cottages” we see everywhere – it seems that every Norwegian family has a small cottage somewhere – up in the hills, down by the sea or nestled in by the fjords, anywhere there is a flat piece of land ! These places are all seasonal and as we travelled in these parts we could see that people were starting to open them up for the coming summer.
Isfjorden.Pretty waterfront at Andalsnes.
Pretty ( and very popular ) Alesund is a city with an interesting history. Completely destroyed by fire in 1904, the city was completely rebuilt in the ( then ) fashionable “Art Nouveau” style. It’s beautiful, distinctive and timeless. It reminded us in a way of Napier in New Zealand – destroyed by an earthquake in the 1930’s the politicians of the day had the wisdom to decree that all new building follow the Art Deco theme that was then all the rage. Like Alesund, Napier now has a unique style and beauty that continues to draw visitors from all over the world.
Alesund, typical art nouveau architecture. As we walked around we often remarked that the whole place looked like a film set!More of same.Ditto.Ditto.View across to Alesund from our park-up spot across the bay.A popular wild camp spot across the harbour from Alesund. We had it to ourselves- perfect tranquility. In 2 months it will be jam-packed.First bumped into the Queen Mary 2 at Alesund. We would cross paths again.The sheer walls of Geiranger fjord.Part of Geiranger fjord.View over Geiranger village and the fjord.Van parked at Olden, Innvikfjord, Queen Mary 2 moored nearby.QM2 up close !QM2 dwarfed by the fjord. At a distance it looked like a toy.Scenery near Eidsdal.Overlooking pretty Byrkjelo.
It must be said that the Norwegians have done a stunning job connecting this mountainous country all together with 1100 tunnels and hundreds of ferries to get you over ( or under !) the long fjords that run in from the coast. This was not an easy country to tame, but they have made traversing it extremely easy. Everything works, it’s all well kept, and it all runs on time- it’s a very easy place to love ( just ignore some of the highest fuel prices in the world and you’ll be fine – crazy, because they have lots of oil ! ). They make life easy here for campers which just adds to the allure- Norway ( and other Scandinavian countries ) are all a dream for wild camping due to a centuries old law known as “allemannsretten”, something we wish more countries would adopt. Sadly, in some parts of Europe the attitude is completely the opposite.
We’ve always considered this one of, if not, perhaps THE most beautiful countries in the world and we’ve not seen anything on this visit that would cause us to change that view. They don’t consistently rank at or near the top of global living standard rankings by accident.
In closing, here’s a little joke for the week – good reason not to wait too long to get some travelling in !
We’ll continue on next blog with the drive on to Bergen and on across the south of Norway to Oslo, wrapping up our stay in this beautiful country.
Inari ( Finland ) is only a short hop across Hwy 92 to the Norwegian border at Karasjok. From there it was only a 4 hour drive to the very top of Europe – to some a mystical place, to the Sami people of this region a place of spiritual significance, and to many others ( like us ) simply the remote and foreboding far northern extremity of the continent. We had waited decades for this moment, and here it was just a few hours ( mind you, some very nail biting hours ! ) drive away.
Our final day drive to the cape, from northern Finland.
If I’m entirely truthful, the magnitude of the moment was still a bit less than it should ( and could ) have been. Rather than starting in Canada ( as we did ) we should have been starting in Cape Town ( South Africa ) and completing the grand daddy of all overland treks, the “Cape To Cape”. Alas, a global pandemic and a few inconvenient African civil wars put paid to that ( it was to have followed our PanAm adventure back in 2020/21 ). Such is life. But hey, it’s been a heck of a ride from our home in Kelowna, to Baltimore, to Hamburg and on through mainland Europe and Scandinavia to get this far and we are truly excited about this day we’ve looked forward to for so long.
One of the Cape to Cape routes. This fellow did it on a bicycle, alone ( just before the pandemic ). Impressive !
By northern Finland we were already into heavy snow conditions, sub-zero temperatures, howling winds and we knew this last stretch would throw all that at us and more ( narrower roads, icier surfaces, and more challenging visibility) but with our 4×4 set up, good ground clearance, and heavy duty all- weather tires it should not present us any problems. And, with our inside creature comforts we’d be comfortable doing it. The fact that we were in the ONLY vehicle up here without studded winter tires was a tad disconcerting😳.
How it looked as we left Finland.
The run to the Norwegian border was uneventful and while we were not required to stop at the border ( a Schengen benefit ) we did pull up and take the time to talk to the very friendly Norwegian customs and immigration lady. Same question we had fired at the Finn’s when we arrived in Helsinki – was there any way that we could use Canada’s historic bilateral visa agreements with the Scandinavian countries to circumvent the limitations of the 90 day Schengen visa rules which all three of these countries now subscribed to ? In short, as polite as she was, she could not deliver the news we wanted. No, after 90 days in Europe, we had to exit one way or another. End of story. Hey, we tried.
”OK, but where’s ‘Norway’ ? “ 🤣🤣
Having somewhat anticipated this we had moved a little more quickly than we would’ve liked in this first month in order that we had a little more time up our sleeve at the back end and this last bit of bad news from the Norwegian’s only confirmed to us that the strategy had been a good one. At least it now left us with what should be enough time to do what we wanted to do in the first 90 days- if perhaps at the cost of arriving here in northern Norway just a bit sooner than would have been ideal. So far, no weather issues but this would be the tough stretch.
Norwegian town en route to Nordkapp.
The biggest difference between Finland and Norway is unquestionably the mountains. As in, Finland doesn’t have any and Norway is absolutely covered in them ! Big, beautiful, high rocky ones, some of which we had to cross to get to Nordkapp. That was one concern. The other was just the extreme latitude and remoteness ( hundreds of kilometres north of the nearest town of any size ) and of course now well above the Arctic Circle. Just how far ?
Lower on the E39 to Nordkapp.But the roads soon got like this, and much worse….
I googled Deadhorse, in Alaska, and Tuktoyuktuk, in Canada’s NWT – the former at approx. 70 degrees north and the latter at just over 69. At Nordkapp we’d be well over 71 degrees. So, way, way, north – officially farther north than we’d ever been in our lives. A few years back the BBC did a story on the E69 ( the road to Nordkapp ), an interesting read (here).
Pulled this off a website that covered the expedition of a couple of motorcyclists to each the worlds 3 most northerly driveable roads. Nordkapp coldest for us as well !
As we saw the terrain change once in Norway it started to actually feel more remote. Fewer vehicles, the roads narrowed, the roads were in parts completely snow-covered and of course we had long since stopped seeing any trees. It was, in places, almost lunar-like.
Nordkapp actually sits on the island of Mageroya which is connected to the mainland by a tunnel almost 7km long. It’s long, and DEEP – it actually goes under the seabed. Just another bit of eeriness to add to the moment. We passed the sheer sides of fjords, more ( shorter ) tunnels, some small remote settlements and then the last town of any size- Honningsvag. There were now countless reindeer warning signs ( but no more moose warning signs – they are smart enough not to come this far north it seems ! ).
As we went further north, moose warning signs gave way to reindeer signs.…and shortly thereafter we saw one.
Just outside Honningsvag is the turn-off for the final run to the top – and a warning that we may need to join a snowplough “convoy” which goes only twice a day. The road seemed ok at this point although snow was in places banked up almost 2m high on the road sides, at times making it seem like we were driving in a tunnel with no top. “Fortune favours the brave”, it’s said – we’d come this far without assistance, we’d go it alone.
Apart from some steep climbs and descents, some slippery ice here and there and fairly continuous snow drifts, the last 20kms was actually not too bad. Slow, very narrow in places, and with 4×4 engaged all the way to maximize traction, but at no point was it frightening. We had noticed as far back as Helsinki that almost all the vehicles here at this time of year have studded tires and certainly all vehicles this far north have them. We do not since they would be terribly impractical for the other 95% of our journey, but it does mean that we have to exercise. an extra degree of caution on the icy roads up here. Some of the campers did not have 4 x 4 but they ALL had studded tires – and frankly, in these conditions, the studded tires would offer a lot more safety and security than any 4 x 4 system.
Stopped for a break and noticed some very weird crystal formations on the rims – so perfectly symmetrical.
Just after lunch time we could see the unmistakable dome that marks the Nordkapp centre and we pulled in joining the dozen or so vehicles ( most were campers ) already there. We had made it – and I had won a bet. At one point a couple of days before Lois said, said “Jeff there’ll be no one up there at this time of year. There’s no one crazy enough to do it”. She agreed, reluctantly, that nine vehicles counted as just a few more than “no one”, and, like me, began to just soak in the moment – here we were, finally, certainly as far as “drivability” goes, pretty much on top of the world. It felt good, very, very good.
Pulling in to Nordkapp !Stopped for a selfie….…then went to the Nordkapp “globe” marking the northernmost point reachable by road in Europe.View west from Nordkapp.View east ( towards Russia ) from Nordkapp.The route we have taken through Europe.
So, you’re here now, you’ve made it to one of those milestone places you’ve long thought about – what’s to do ? Well, much more in summer than there is in early spring, but but there are various monuments to explore sculptures, a museum, a very nice restaurant, a cinema telling the story of North Cape, and lots of history around the place that speak to its early discovery and the many famous people who have come this far. Folks with any interest in World War II history will probably be aware that just off the north Cape a very famous battle was fought between the German and British Navy that resulted in the sinking of the great German battleship, the Scharnhost, and there is a gripping story of the cat and mouse naval manoeuvres that led to it.
A museum display detailing the Battle of North Cape and the sinking of the Scharnhorst.Seven of us stayed overnight. Every other vehicle was from Germany.A view to Nordkapp.
We had a full afternoon taking in all that and chatting with others, congratulating ourselves on the achieving of getting here. There was also one unexpected gem – a huge pod of whales passed the cape as we were taking our pictures. Conditions were bad, light was fading and snow was falling, and as we were up so high the whales were far far away. The still pictures just did not turn out as it was very difficult to focus on what looked like small objects on the ocean surface however, the short video I shot clearly shows a couple of the whales surfacing and the spouts of water they created. The holy grail is to be at Nordkapp at this time of year and observe a beautiful aurora borealis ( northern lights ) display – too much cloud on the night we stayed, so we missed that but took the whale sighting as a good consolation prize.
Ok, the worst quality video EVER ( blowing snow, strong wind and a very distant clip ), BUT, you can see two whales spouting just off Nordkapp.Nordkapp sits on a plateau about a thousand feet above sea level. Looking down to the Barents Sea.
Like most who make it up there in a camper vehicle we spent the night and toasted with a celebratory drink and dinner we’d prepared. Interesting sidebar – we were the only camper van there that wasn’t from Germany, Nordkapp obviously being very high on German travellers’ bucket lists. It then occurred to us that we may possibly have been the only Canadian campervan that’s ever been there !
So, now to head south – the days will get longer, the weather should get warmer and we still have so much of Norway’s beautiful coastline to explore. We are looking forward to it.
The PanAm completed in April, 2022 and with the truck camper sold, we shipped our new Sprinter van to Australia in late 2022. We travelled there through all of 2023 and into 2024 before shipping it up to North East Asia where we travelled for 4 months between Korea and Japan, before shipping it back to North America. It’s our plan to continue exploring the world in 2025.
